Glade Hollow Fort
Description Glade Hollow was one of seven Forts established in Southwest Virginia during Dunmore's War of 1774. Its exact location appears to be uncertain, though it was presumably somewhere in the area now known as "Glade Hollow" in Russell County, VA.( Correction added on August 2014-On Highway 71 northwest of Lebanon Virginia is the location of the historical marker for Fort Glade Hollow.There are numerous large caves that are located on this route,near the marker.).No trace of Glade Hollow survives today, and its site is not marked by a Virginia State Historical Marker. Hamilton, 1968 describes it as lying between the towns of Lebanon and Dickensonville in modern Russell County, on Big Cedar Creek. The area known as Glade Hollow, is immediately north of the town of Lebanon, but it extends somewhat into the southeast, and which may explain Hamilton's placement. It was certainly on the Kentucky Trace, as Issac Crabtree in his pension application quoted by Hamilton, stated: :as they came to Glade Hollow Fort, they met about the same number of Indians. He, and Burton Litton and William Priest were some distance in front of the others when they met the Indians. The Indians were laying in ambush in two sink holes, and on each side of the Trace..." '' "The Trace" refers to the "Kentucky Trace", or "Kentucky Road", which originated further north near Roanoke where it split off from The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road and passed south through Castle's Woods. It was the major route by which settlers from the Valley of Virginia passed southward into Southwest Virginia. It took the name "Kentucky Road" after Boone completed the Wilderness Road to the Cumberland Gap, and Kentucky beyond. Prior to that it was known locally as "the Road to the Clinch" as shown on Dasniel Smith's Map of 1774. Hamilton, 1968 identifies Glade Hollow as the fort designated "Fort Christian", by Captain William Russell in his letter of 13th July 1774 to Col William Preston: :"Since I wrote you last, the inhabitants of this river have altered the plan for two forts only, on this river, below Elk Garden, and have erected three; one in Cassells Woods which I call Fort Preston; a second ten miles above which I call '''Fort Christian; the third, five miles below the first, which I call Fort Byrd, and there are four families at John Blackmores near the mouth of Stony Creek, that will never be able to stand it alone without a company of men. Therefore, request you, if you think it can be done, to order them a supply sufficient to enable them to continue the small fortification they have begun. (T&K:88 citing Draper MSC:3QQ64). Hamilton's equation of Glade Hollow with Fort Christian seems reasonable. He points specifically to the fact that Christian's Fort was about ten miles distant from Fort Preston, which is known to have been in Castle's Woods. This is consistent with a location of Fort Christian in the Glade Hollow area near Lebanon. Also, Russel describes it as a fort built by "the inhabitants of this river", referring to the Clinch; that is also consistent with Fort Christian being in Glade Hollow, but much further than that along the Kentucky Trace would place it in the Holston watershed. That area was under the responsibility of another militia officer (Captain Daniel Smith), and as Hamilton points out Russell would not be likely to give a name to a fort in someone elses area of control. Yet there is some confusion on the subject, and some think that "Fort Christian" actually refers to a fort house on or near Daniel Christians homesite at Maxwell's Mill. it is clear that there was indeed a fort of some description at that location. Maj. Arthur Campbell wrote to Col. WIlliam Preston stating: :"The Forts at Glade Hollow, Elk Garden and Maiden Spring, has their compliments complete, and it was Captain Smith's choice to have is own station at Maxwells-Mills" (T&K:194 citing Draper MSC:3QQ94). T&K:194 apparently thought that Smith's Station, as it might have been known, was in fact Daniel Smiths "own fort...designated Fort Christian". Also, a biographical sketch for Daniel Smith by Jay Gould Cisco Cisco, 1909 notes that :His place was on Clinch River, twelve miles below Blackmore's Fort, at Maxwell's Mill. It was known as Smith's Station, though the fort was called Fort Christian. This seems to be a confusion here, an area 12 miles from Blackmore's Fort, would have been in the Clinch River Valley, not the Holston, and Daniel Smith's Station would have been in the Holston. It seems likely that this confusion comes from the fact that there were apparently two "Smith's Stations". This is shown in a letter dated 12 July 1774 from Col. William Christian in a letter to Col. William Preston (and Kellogg, 1905|T&K]:85 citing Draper MSC:3QQ63)) which gives the number of men to be stationed at various forts on the Clinch and Holston rivers. The forts are apparently list in geographic order: : Blackmores --back of Moccasin Gap---30 men : Moores---Captain Thompson---10 men : Russells---10 men : J. Smiths---10 men : D. Smiths---10 men : head of Sandy Creek ---30 men : Cove & Walkers Creek ---15 men "J. Smith" is probably Jeremy Smith, aka "Jemmy Smith", who owned land in the Glade Hollow area according to Hamilton. :In 1777, Robert Dale settled on a tract of land on Big Cedar Creek in Glade Hollow and obtained a patent warrant for the same. This may be the land upon which the fort stood and upon which James Smith was residing at an earlier date. John Carr, who was born on Carr's Creek in 1773 refers to Dale's Fort on the Clinch, which was surely a reference to the Glade Hollow Fort. (Hamilton, 1968). Hamilton was concerned with why James Smith was sometimes spoken of in connection with Glade Hollow Fort, and concluded that it was probably located on his land. As such, it could also have been known as "Smith's Fort" or "Smith's Station", and could have been confused with the Daniel Smith's Station. Overall, the data seems to support the idea that "Fort Christian" corresponded to "Glade Hollow Fort", and that "Smith's own station" refer's to a fort-house probably built on his property at Maxwell's Mill in the North Fork of the Holston River Valley Roster The following roster of soldiers stationed at Glade Hollow Fort is based on Thwaites and Kellogg, 1905:401, citing Draper 5XX2 and 6XX106. The list is ostensibly a roster of Captain Daniel Smith's Company taken 13 August 1774. Some entries include notes indicating listings, and discharges after that date, and as late as 18 November 1774. This list is sometimes used to show that these men fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant; while there is no doubt that they served in Dunmore's War, there seems to be no direct indication in Thwaite and Kellog, 1903, that they participated directly in the battle of Point Pleasant on 10 October. On the ninth of October, the day before the battle, Col Wm. Preston wrote to Daniel Smith, saying: :I make no doubt of your doing all in your power for the ease and defence of the people, in which laudable business may heaven succeed your endeavors. Thwaites and Kellogg, 1905:343, citing Draper Manuscript Collection 4XX44. This seems to make it clear that Smith had been detailed the responsibility of protecting the settlements on the Clinch while others from the area went to Point Pleasant. Presumably the men under Smith also remained behind. On the whole, the evidence seems to indicate that for the most part the men of Fincastle County who went to point Pleasant were from the lower Clinch River area, around Castle's Woods, and served under Captain Russell, and did not include those in Captain Daniel Smith's Company at Glade Hollow or elswhere. However, Thwaite and Kellogg noted that three of the men on the Glade Hollow roster (Abraham Cooper, Archibald Woods, and William Bustar) were only listed beginning October 29 thorugh November 6 "after returning from the Point Plesant expedition." Last First Rank Link Moore Hendly Ensign Dunkin John Sergeant Able Jeremiah Bustar William Byrd Richard Cooper Abraham Cooper Francis Coyle James Crisman Isaac Ferrill William Horn Joseph Litton Soloman McCarty James Pharis William Price James Pricket Drury Scott Archibald Scott James Thomspon Richard Wilmoth William Woods Archibald Category:Settlers of Southwest Virginia Category:Pioneer Forts of Southwest VirginiaMilitia Rosters Southwest Virginia